You deserve nice things | Healing is the Best Revenge episode #16 transcript

Is it easier &/or more accessible for you to read podcast episodes? I’ve got you! I transcribe every episode of Healing is the Best Revenge. Here’s episode #16: You deserve nice things:

Welcome to Healing is the Best Revenge, a podcast for survivors and the folks who love us, to discuss the politics of survivorship, healing, and community care. This is a space where honor the messy and complex realities of healing from trauma, rejecting pedestals and perfectionism along the way.

Hi, I’m Karina Hagelin and I’m a survivor with C-PTSD AKA complex post-traumatic stress disorder. I get it, like really get it, and I’m here to offer affirmations, pep talks, encouragement, support, and some super real talk about being in the messy murky middle of healing from trauma.

Now, a note from this show’s sponsor: Yours truly! Have you checked out my shop? I create cute, colorful zines, stickers, and affirmation prints centered around radical self-love, healing from trauma, vulnerability, friendships as resistance, and moving from surviving to thriving.

I want to recommend my Survivor Self-Care Package which is a bundle of zines, stickers, and prints. They’re bright, uplifting, and inspiring, filled with words of support and encouragement for survivors of abuse, trauma, and violence. I have 8 Survivor Self-Care Packages left at the time of recording this episode. Each Survivor Self-Care Package contains:

Each order is packed with confetti, love, and a limited edition affirmation print.

To check the Survivor Self-Care Package and/or any of my other awesome products out, head over to karinahagelin.etsy.com or simply click the link in the show notes.

A friend and comrade said they would really like to hear me talk more about my personal experiences as a survivor who is healing. They said it might be helpful for folks listening to the podcast - or at least it would be helpful for them. So going forward, I’m going to try to start each episode with a little personal update.

Hi sweet friend, Karina here. I’m so done with the nightmares, y’all. I’m so done. I’ve been having them pretty much every night for over a decade now. I’m scared to go to sleep at night because of them. I never feel rested when I wake up because of the nightmares. While I’ve had some success with reducing the intensity of my nightmares with medication, it’s not enough. I’m just so exhausted. I’m so tired of being exhausted. I’m so tired.

I’m grateful for the creative projects in my life, like this podcast, that I’m excited to show up for. That help me to get out of bed, at least for a little bit. My lupus and chronic illness stuff tends to get worse when the seasons change; I’m hoping it stabilizes more soon. I’ve had to spend so much time resting and I just want to be able to do more of the things I need to do, more of the things I care about, just like, more things! I think this is the struggle of being a chronically ill Aries babe.

Anyways, that’s my lil personal update for you.

Today’s episode is short and sweet, as usual. I want to share a mini affirmation / pep talk with you.

Many of us with PTSD and/also CPTSD are disabled and unable to work, especially in the traditional 9-5 sense. And I want to remind you, sweet friend, that regardless of your ability to work, you deserve good things. You deserve more than the bare minimum. You deserve more than breadcrumbs. You deserve more.

A lot of disabled babes I know deal with harassment if they dare to have anything nice, regardless of if it was a gift or thrifted or whatever. As a culture, we can’t wrap our minds around how disabled folks would have nice things, other than scamming people, it seems. I know I’ve faced harassment, abuse, and accusations of scamming people because of the clothes I wear, how I decorate my home, and so on.

Anyways, this is all to say that your struggles may not be visible or seem real to others based on the highlight reel that is social media. I don’t want you to have to struggle; I don’t want any of us to have to struggle to survive. I believe that regardless of your ability to work, to participate in an actual scam: capitalism, that you deserve collective care, community support, beautiful friendships, boundless love, and nice things. You deserve to thrive, sweet friend.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for you today but before I go, if you’d like to receive notes on radical self-love, healing, and affirmations, you can find a link to subscribe to my newsletter in the show notes. I’d love to have you on the list!

Until next time, sweet friend. And as always, I believe you.